The Gundersen Family
Like the Kellers, the Gundersens also contributed in a big way to our wedding day. Cindi made an individual cake for each one of our guests. We didn’t learn until later that she recruited a whole team of people to help her pull it off. So, I offered to do some family photos for them as a small way of saying thanks.
The Gundersens adopted Judah from Uganda about a year and a half ago, and he’s grown so much since then. I’m convinced that he’s going to grow up to be an entertainer of some sort. He’s very perceptive of what makes people laugh, and knows just how to act to get everyone to smile. Which made this shoot a lot of fun.
Judah wanted to drive the train… to Oklahoma.
King of the rock!
I love this one.
Every hole we passed was just screaming for Judah to throw rocks into it.
Judah was singing “King of New York” from Newsies. I couldn’t believe he knew all the words…
Gunner, Cindi, and Judah, thanks for being involved in our wedding and our lives! We’ve loved going through life together with you, and look forward to seeing where God uses you in the future!
Lake Piru
When Rachel and I first got married, we knew that life was going to get really busy. So we resolved to spend one night a week as a date night, and one weekend a month away somewhere. It’s been a huge advantage to both of us as individuals, and as a couple.
A few months ago, we went camping at Lake Piru for our weekend away. It was a great time to go, and we enjoyed the time reading, hiking, boating, and taking photos. Here are some of the ones that stood out…
We had some fun apprehending the sun at sunrise. It wasn’t the big red ball of fire we had hoped for, which is another argument for why sunset is better than sunrise.
We also had some fun with long exposures at night…
I got so dizzy doing this one.
I’m in the habit of writing a personal note of thanks to my photo subjects at the end of each of my blog posts. In this case, I’d like to say thank you to my wife, for being so eager to join me on any adventure, no matter how big or small, and making it exponentially better just by your presence.
Jared & Inna (bonus material)
When I shot Jared & Inna’s wedding in August, we ran out of time to do the photos on the beach that we had been planning on. So we set up a time to do a post-wedding session to make up for it.
Ironically, after they drove down to sunny Malibu from San Francisco, we got up that morning to find SoCal was socked in with fog. But it proved to be a blessing in disguise: Rachel (my voice-activated lightstand) and I were rewarded with the best natural light diffuser you ever saw. I came home with a collection of photos that were very different than I expected, but still very, very cool.
And just as things were starting to get cold and dark, I decided to try one last idea… and wow.
Jared and Inna, thanks for being such an encouragement to Rachel and I. We loved getting to spend some time over dinner and The Newlywed Game with you, too, even when you had such a tight schedule. We’re so grateful for your friendship!